Sambo Worlds: 101 countries in Tashkent, Russia on top

The World Sambo Championships are being held from 6 to 8 November in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. For this 50th edition, the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) reports a record 101 countries entered, against 11 at the first edition in 1973. The programme covers sport sambo, combat sambo and sambo for blind and visually impaired athletes, with a women's event in that last category for the first time.

Russia dominates the first two days

Russia won three titles on Friday, then seven of Saturday's twelve finals. Demid Volkov (combat sambo, -88 kg), Aleksandr Suchkov (sambo, -88 kg) and Artem Tadin (combat sambo, -98 kg) were crowned in the men's events, Sofia Tsibrova (-54 kg) and Karina Cherevan (-65 kg) in women's sambo, and Valeriia Tepysheva (-50 kg), Vera Lotkova (-59 kg) and Iana Poliakova (-72 kg) in women's combat sambo. Georgia has four titles in two days, including Avto Mukbaniani (-64 kg) and Ucha Tabatadze (+98 kg) on Saturday. Hosts Uzbekistan took two titles through Mavluda Abdullaeva and Ulmas Rayimov and put six athletes on the podium on day one.

Ukraine (Halyna Kovalska, -80 kg), Mongolia (Bayanduuren Gantumur, combat sambo -58 kg), Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan also won gold. Spain's Sarai Padilla Guerrero took silver at -65 kg and Cameroon's Seidou Nji Mouluh bronze in combat sambo -98 kg. No French athlete appears among the medallists of the first two days.

Two ambassadors from MMA

FIAS president Vasily Shestakov presented Fedor Emelianenko and Islam Makhachev with their credentials as sambo ambassadors on 5 November. Both men, combat sambo champions before their MMA careers, attended the opening ceremony. On 8 November FIAS also announced that it had joined the Association of Paralympic Sports Organisations.

Final day

Ten categories are decided on Sunday 8 November: -71 and -98 kg in men's sambo, -59, -72 and +80 kg in women's sambo, -79 and +98 kg in men's combat sambo, and -54, -65 and -80 kg in women's combat sambo. The bouts are streamed live on the FIAS website.

Created in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, sambo is practised in a jacket and shorts. The sport version is close to judo, with leg locks allowed and no chokes. Combat sambo adds punches, kicks, knees and elbows.